As the Tour de France enters its decisive final week, Team Visma
| Lease a Bike finds itself in an unwanted position, chasing. Jonas Vingegaard
is still second overall, but Tadej Pogacar has a firm grip on yellow, having
taken four stage wins and built a commanding lead. The scenario has led to
public criticism of Visma’s approach, most notably from former Tour winner
Bjarne Riis, who even suggested Vingegaard consider leaving the team. Team boss
Richard Plugge isn’t too impressed by those comments.
“Who’s Bjarne Riis? He’s somewhere in Denmark watching from
a distance,” Plugge told AD, brushing off the comments. “I’m used to everyone
being involved with us. Some people think what we do is fantastic, others think
it’s absolutely awful.”
Still, he’s not blind to the reality. “It can always be
better,” he admitted. “We’re mainly focused on improving with our experts. We
could write the most critical columns about ourselves. About what? I’m not
going to tell you.”
Visma isn’t without results this Tour, Simon Yates delivered
a stage win and Vingegaard remains Pogacar’s closest rival. “We’ve been on the
podium in every Tour since 2019. For now, we’re second in the Tour and
Pogacar’s biggest challenger. And we also won a stage with Simon Yates.”
Plugge knows the gap is larger than planned, but says
there’s no panic. “We know Pogacar is the best rider in the world. Jonas has
lost twice as much time as we anticipated. That’s why we’re two minutes further
behind than expected. But there’s still a lot to come, and Jonas is feeling
good.”